In the fabrication of sheet metal and other workpieces, automated machinery may be employed, including turret presses and other industrial presses (such as single-station presses), Trumpf style machine tools and other rail-type systems, press brakes, sheet feed systems, coil feed systems, and many other types of fabrication equipment adapted for punching or pressing sheet materials. Sheet metal and other workpieces can be fabricated into a wide range of useful products, which commonly require various bends and/or holes to be formed in the workpieces. Turret presses have found wide use in punching and forming sheet metal and the like.
Turret presses typically have an upper turret that holds a series of punches at locations spaced circumferentially about its periphery, and a lower turret that holds a series of dies at locations spaced circumferentially about its periphery. Commonly, the press can be rotated about a vertical axis to bring a desired punch and die set into vertical alignment at a work station. By appropriately rotating the upper and lower turrets, an operator can bring a number of different punch and die sets sequentially into alignment at the work station in the process of performing a series of different pressing operations.
Multi-tools for turret presses allow a plurality of different tools to be available at a single tool-mount location on the press. Thus, in place of a tool with only one punch, there can be provided a multi-tool carrying a number of different punches. With such a multi-tool, any one of a plurality of punches carried by the multi-tool can be selected and moved to an operable position. When a multi-tool punch assembly is struck from above by the punch press ram, a single, selected punch element or punch insert within the assembly is driven downwardly through the workpiece to perform the punching operation, while the other punches (those not selected) remain inactive. When released, the punch insert is retracted by a spring or similar component provided in the multi-tool punch assembly.
Existing turret presses have dedicated multi-tool stations, but often they do not offer full indexability (punching at any angle relative to the workpiece) nor do they offer the flexibility of using the station as a single punch station. Many existing designs require a wrench or other tool to remove the upper portion of the multi-tool which slows set-up and repair operations by the operator. In addition, current multi-tool designs may mark workpieces by motion of non-selected punches or other multi-tool element and have stripper features that are not readily replaceable after wear or damage.